Shirley Cramer CBE (chair) has a wealth of public health and education expertise. She served as the Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health from 2013 to 2020, during which time she held positions of Vice Chair of the Public Health System Group in England and Chair of People in UK Public Health; a cross-government advisory board on the future of the public health workforce.

She is currently the Non-Executive Director for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, chairs the Re-birth Project for the Royal College of Midwives, and is a trustee of Alzheimer’s Research UK.

With more than twenty years of leadership experience Shirley has been a voluntary sector leader in both the UK and the USA, working in New York where she was CEO for a national education organisation. She was also CEO of Dyslexia Action for over a decade and a board member of the Learning and Skills Council.
Shirley was awarded a CBE for services to education in 2009.

Nick Fox is a professor of clinical neurology and director of the Dementia Research Centre (DRC) at UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology, of which the Rare Dementia Support service is an integral part. He is also an honorary consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, balancing his clinical and research interests in neurodegenerative dementia that range from biomarkers, imaging and trials through to supporting patients and families with young onset, inherited and atypical dementias.

Nick has championed the idea of a Rare Dementia Support Centre ever since a leading philanthropist asked him “Why isn’t there a Maggie’s Centre for dementia?” and has led the vision for the RDS Centre and service to be at the heart of the university’s dementia strategy.

As one of the most cited authors in Neuroscience (Top 1%; Thompson Reuters: 2014-present), Nick ensures that RDS and the DRC are vital gateways to research, especially supporting trials participants as we enter a new era of disease-modifying treatments for dementia.

Shailesh Solanki is executive editor of Asian Media Group, Britain’s biggest Asian publishing house. Established in 1968, the group publishes a stable of market leading consumer and business titles which include Garavi Gujarat and Eastern Eye newspapers, Asian Trader, Pharmacy Business, Asian Hospitality, The Asian Rich List and the GG2 Power List.

The group also hosts some the country’s leading events celebrating the success of ethnic communities. AMG’s events include the Asian Business Awards, the Asian Trader Awards, the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards, the Pharmacy Business Awards and the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Awards (ACTAs).

An economics graduate, Shailesh has interviewed prime ministers, cabinet ministers, CEOs and movie stars in his career spanning three decades across the UK, the US and India. He has a particular interest in equality, diversity and inclusion, and helped create the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards and the GG2 Diversity Conference.
Shailesh sits on the board of the race, integration and identity thinktank British Future, and is an adviser to the English Cricket Board on their south Asian strategy. He is also an ambassador for the CBI’s Change the Race Ratio initiative.

Di Garfield is a strategy, brand and communications specialist with a Masters in Charities Management. She co-founded the RDS forerunner, the Myrtle Ellis Fund, named after her mother who was diagnosed with PCA in 2004. Di also served for nine years as governor of a large boys’ school in Hertfordshire, leading innovative changes in its finance and development functions.

Di’s career is centred on providing project management, content creation and advisory services for strategic planning, organisational development, marketing communications and digital programmes. She has worked with global brands such as Hilton Worldwide, Aon and BT; PR agencies Fleishman Hillard, WE and Edelman; and driven growth for a wide range of small businesses. Di now focuses on supporting CEOs of charities, member associations and other organisations driven by a purpose and positive impact.

Gill Edelman originally qualified as a speech and language therapist and is a fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. She worked in several hospitals and progressed into senior management roles before leaving the NHS for the voluntary sector.
Gill has been CEO of several charities including Kings College Hospital Charity and I CAN, the children’s communication charity. As an interim CEO, she helped establish the Centre for Ageing Better and managed the closure of the Macfarlane Trust one of the charities set up by the Department of Health to support people infected with contaminated blood products and their families.

She has been a trustee of several charities and was Chair of the Governance Hub, a national programme funded via the Cabinet Office and Capacity Builders to improve standards of governance across the voluntary and community sector. She has also worked as an independent voluntary sector consultant. She supported the Chair of the Charity Commission in establishing its new governance arrangements following implementation of the 2006 Charities Act and has supported strategy and governance development in a wide range of charities.

Gill has held several non-executive roles in healthcare including as a NED in the National Patient Safety Agency. She also served as a NED at Barnet PCT, as a Lay Member for Patient and Public and Patient Engagement at Surrey Downs CCG, as Chair of the Individual Funding Review Panel, and more recently as Chair of Quality and Performance in Surrey Heartlands, ICS.

Gill currently sits as a Lay Panel Member for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and is a board member of the General Osteopathic Council.

Nick Pollen BSc Est. Man. FRICS has been a director of a public quoted property company and senior partner of a private practice of chartered surveyors advising pension funds, developers and other parties in commercial real estate investment and development.

As a chartered surveyor since the 1980s he has had extensive involvement in developments in London, the UK, and Europe. He is now semi-retired and devoting his time to project management and fundraising for a few favourite charities.
 
He is delighted to have been able to help with the acquisition and setting up the project management of The Hilary and Galen Weston Rare Dementia Support Centre.

Nick lives in central London with his wife Raena who was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy some 16 years ago and is now in Stage 7. Over many years they assisted with research into rare forms of Alzheimer’s and with drug trials.  Although living with him at home Raena requires 24/7 care with Nick and a team of professional carers looking after her. Nick thinks he is therefore unlikely to retire any time soon.

Nicki Hall’s background is in theatre and the arts where she worked in press and publicity for both Riverside Studios and the National Theatre before moving into screenwriting for film and television. Her stage adaptation of Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady was produced in Bath and London as were her translations of three classic Feydeau farces. 

Nicki was married to the theatre and opera director, Sir Peter Hall, who suffered from Lewy Body Dementia in his later years. Her charity experience includes working with Parkinson’s UK on their 50th Jubilee Concert, Fanfare in the Square.

Christian Kimberley‑Bowen (CKB) brings over 25 years’ experience at major media and technology companies, including Meta, X, Pinterest, Disney, Yahoo! and Dentsu. He has led international teams, built long‑term partnerships between global brands and digital platforms, and helped shape how companies use technology to connect with audiences. He serves as a board advisor to Rare Dementia Support in honour of his late father. Recognised by colleagues for his vision, determination, empathy and ability to bring people together, Christian remains a mentor to others and is committed to making a positive impact in business and in supporting dementia research and care.